Description:
Ketubah recording the marriage of the groom Eliezer son of R. Yehuda Ben Pele [Papo] with the bride Miriam (called Bolisa) daughter of R. Michael son of R. Refael known as Badhav. Jerusalem, Elul 1865. The text of the ketubah in written in elegant Oriental script. With witnesses' signatures, two Jerusalem rabbis: R. Meir Refael Panizel [the Marpeh, Rishon LeZion of Jerusalem] and Rabbi Rachamim Shlomo HaLevi [Jerusalem rabbi, rabbi and sage at the kabbalist Beit El Yeshiva]. In the center is the signature of the groom R. Eliezer Papo. Groom's father - "Rabbi Yehuda Ben Pele" - son of Rabbi Eliezer Papo, author of Pele Yo'etz and publisher of his books. His grandson, the groom In this ketubah, is his namesake. The father of the bride, R. Michael Bidhav, is the father of the Jerusalem sage R. Yitzchak Bidhav. A family inscription appears in the margins, apparently in the handwriting of Rabbi Yitzchak Bidhav, with details of the date of the death of his sister [the bride mentioned in this ketubah] and of her husband [the groom] in 1910 and 1911, and more inscriptions deciphering the curly rabbinical signatures. Illustrated ketubah, embellished with colored ink, in the style of Jerusalem Ketubot. Floral frames peaking at a round dome encompassing a stylized flower. The upper frame incorporates three vases with flora and flowers. The vases are flanked by illustrations of palms and cypress trees. Pillars compose the bottom borders of the frame with the text of the ketubah in the center. 47X61 cm. Fair condition. Stains. Open tears. Restored with pasted paper. 63.5X78.5 cm. frame. Unexamined out of frame. Exhibited: A Local Wedding, Ketubbot from Eretz Israel 1800-1960 (Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, 2005), Item no. 4. Provenance: Willy Lindwer collection.